220 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
occasionally seen in the clearings where berries were plentiful. It 
has a wide gape like that of the cotinga, and the males are a 
shining turquoise-blue with the forehead, throat and sides of the 
face black. The female is quite unlike the male but is nevertheless 
very beautiful, with brilliant green plumage. 
A pair of Sclater’s Orange-headed Tanagers were also obtained. 
They are very striking, with their orange plumage contrasting 
with a black face, wings and tail. 
Many other attractive birds were seen in the forest around Santo 
Domingo, including several barbets. The New World barbets are 
not well known in England, but some that I saw were exceedingly 
handsome, especially Bourcier’s Barbet, which is a gorgeous bird 
with a mixture of green, scarlet, silvery white and yellow in its 
plumage. Swainson’s Toucans were also seen, and we were for- 
tunate in obtaining a pair of young ones which were ridiculously 
tame and made most amusing pets. They are rare in captivity. 
The everlasting rain and mud and the filthy conditions under 
which we were living made us give a sigh of relief when we set off 
again on our mules for Quito. The return journey was even worse 
than the outward one as the heavy rains were continuous, and 
we had to climb over eight thousand feet. 
We could not obtain any porters, so our bird-cages had to be 
strapped to the mules; the journey was rather a nightmare, with 
the animals frequently falling into mud holes and crashing into 
trees. All the birds survived the first two days, but the last one 
was too much for some of them. I never attempted to carry birds 
again by mules, and wherever I went I took porters with me. 
Our next trip was to Lloa, a small Spanish village to the south- 
west of Mount Pichincha, situated at an elevation of eleven thou- 
sand feet. While we were searching the surrounding country for 
some sort of hut to stay in and to use as our headquarters while 
collecting, we were offered the use of the local school, as there 
was no other accommodation available in the village. Fortunately 
the children were on holiday, though this did not mean that we 
were without company. Ecuador is noted for its fleas, but I never 
experienced anything like the massed attack by the inmates of that 
schoolroom. Luckily we did not have to put up with that ordeal 
